Huffington Post – by Inae OhEach new day seems to bring another strange development in the highly-publicized bid to ban horse carriages in New York City.
Friday’s cover of The Daily News — which has launched its own campaign in support of carriage drivers — is dedicated to a report the FBI is now peripherally involved in the debate, with agents probing a claim that threats were made against former mayoral candidate Christine Quinn.
The FBI is said to be specifically looking into whether an incident in early 2013 — when Quinn was largely seen as the race’s clear frontrunner — escalated into an act of extortion.
According to the story, a consultant hired by the pro-ban animal rights group NYCLASS allegedly approached members of Quinn’s campaign, telling them if she failed to back the carriage ban, the group would spend large amounts of money campaigning against her. (“And when she said neigh, they buried her,” punned the paper.)
Neither the FBI nor the consultant, Scott Levenson, responded to The Daily News with comment.
NYCLASS did end up donating heavily to Quinn’s rival, now-Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had vowed to put an end to the carriage industry within his first week at City Hall.
De Blasio clearly overstated that promise. But to be fair, who could have anticipated the mayor would be facing off against Liam Neeson? The actor-turned-mayoral arch nemesis is among several high-profile voices — including, bizarrely, an ex-president of France — speaking out in favor of keeping horse and carriage rides in Central Park.
Claims of a federal investigation are just the latest wobble in the angry debate, which nearly engulfed even Vice President Joe Biden earlier this week. Though the pro-ban group Equine Advocates announced Biden was speaking at its weekend conference, White House officials told NY1 the VP “was totally unaware of the event.” Whoops.
When asked about the report, a spokesperson for NYCLASS told Huff Post the organization had “no knowledge of any investigation.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/christine-quinn-horse-carriage_n_5212027.html
What happens to the horses when they serve no commercial purpose anymore? Do the protesters think this far ahead.
No, they don’t. They think that the horses will all be adopted by loving people who will let them live happily ever after in a pasture.
I also don’t understand how they can protest about the carriage horses yet say Nothing about the NYPD horses.
I yelled at a cop about his horse’s mess shortly after they passed the pooper-scooper law, but he just rode off into the sunset. (30 years ago we were able to argue with cops without being beaten or tazed)
Wouldn`t it be GREAT to see the mounted police carrying around a Big Bag and a shovel like the dog walkers have to do?
I`d absolutely love to see a bag full of it hanging off the cops saddle after cleaning up after his horse. Fair is fair ya know 😉 😆
Good, I say give the FBI pukes a pooper scooper and a big bag if they want to get involved 😉
glad i got out states,?too magog and gog hills,?england, rem., there is a green hill far,far away? england, the new jerusalem, no well ruled by jews,and my mum was jew ess
hey i get some weird reply’s her indoors says don,t they get to you,no i say, i just click spam all and computer deletes all
lol
joke jew won lottery 28 millions, his wife says himey what should i do with all these begging letters,?he says,betty keep sending them out,?lol
What’s the problem with the horse carriages? They were there for a hundred years (if not two), and now all of a sudden someone doesn’t like them so they have to go?
I never liked the things either, but I accept that everything in the world shouldn’t be changed to suit my tastes. That’s the problem with these yuppies/commies. They spend their entire lives telling other people how to change themselves so they’ll be more acceptable to yuppie sensibilities, or commie conformity.
Live and let live is out of the question. It’s always a matter of live and tell everyone else how to live too, because they’re special, of course, and know what’s best for everyone, and should never have to tolerate anything they find offensive.